I still remember the first time I took an unexpected warming sip of a Bristol ‘Boston Tea Party’ Chai latte on a snowy cold day…it was delicious and I have never been able to enjoy it quite as much as then. But I love chai and I love cake….need I say more?
I did I bit of research and found that ’apparently’ the best way to infuse your tea of choice into a cake mixture is to infuse it into the melted butter. So I thought I’d experiment…. Even if this proves unnecessary, it certainly produced the most delicious smelling, chai-scented, nutty brown butter which would certainly make a great addition to anything baked. And if you can handle the cinnamon overload, this would be insane with my Apple Crumble Ice Cream
1 sturdy loaf
- 150g butter (plus about 30g extra)
- 150g golden syrup
- 150g soft brown sugar
- 200ml milk
- 5 ‘teapigs’ chai tea bags/ 5 tbsp loose chai tea
- 250g plain flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp mixed spice
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 2 crunchy apples, peeled, cored and cubed into chunks
- 2 tbsp chai seeds (optional)
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Melt the butter in a pan the add the contents of the chai teabags. Warm briefly and leave to infuse to 5 minutes.
- Sieve the infused melted butter into a clean pan pressing the flavours out of the strained tea which can then be discarded. Weigh the melted butter and top up to 150g. Add the sugar and syrup and melt everything together.
- When melted, add the milk and leave to cool
- Weigh out the flour and add the mixed spice and baking powder. Make a well in the centre and add the cooled sugar mixture. Stir gently to combine.
- Add the beaten egg and mix. Stir in the apple keeping back a handful for garnish.
- Pour into a lined loaf tin and top with a few chunks of apple. Scatter with the chai seeds for a crunchy topping and bake for about 50 minutes until cooked.
- Serve with a steaming cup of chai and some mascarpone smothered on top if you like.
Alternatively try it with pears? This loaf recipe would also be brilliant with ground ginger (minus the chai) and some preserved ginger pieces for a lovely ginger loaf.
